SAN DIEGO – Miesha Tate’s 2012 campaign was well on the way to another disaster before the depleted fighter scored a phenomenal comeback win.

After losing her Strikeforce bantamweight title to Ronda Rousey earlier this year, Tate survived a beating from Julie Kedzie before notching an armbar victory in the waning minutes of their featured preliminary-card bout.

The fight was part Saturday’s “Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman” event at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. It aired on Showtime Extreme prior to the Showtime-televised main card.

The fighters, who were both gunning for a shot at the winner of tonight’s Rousey vs. Sarah Kaufman championship headliner, came out swinging. Kedzie, though, drew first blood with a stiff head kick and follow-up punches. Tate recovered, but while clinched against the cage, Kedzie connected with knees to the body and short elbows to the head. After stuffing a few telegraphed takedown attempts, Kedzie then unloaded more punishment, pinned Tate against the cage, later dropped her with a side kick, and then narrowly survived a near-disastrous sweep and mounted triangle choke from Tate to win the round.

Tate scored a takedown early in the following round, but Kedzie quickly transitioned to an omoplata attempt and then hunted for a knee while the arm was trapped. Tate, though, slowly moved to her back, secured a body lock, and delivered punches to the head before slapping on a rear-naked choke and eventually moving to a side choke and guillotine before Kedzie got back to her feet. The round, though, belonged to Tate, who tied up it up 19-19.

In the final frame, Tate looked spent as she labored for breath, and she was slow to react. Kedzie capitalized and then floored her with a shin to the face and followed up with punches from the top. Despite being dazed, Tate snatched a limb, and after a struggle, straightened it out and torqued an armbar, the same submission Rousey used in March to take her title. Kedzie initially fought it off and used a leg to try to pry her arm free, but Tate eventually got the leverage she needed and forced a tap out.

The stoppage to the barnburner of a fight came at the 3:28 mark of the final round.

“It’s a little bit of eye of the tiger,” Tate said of her survival. “She’s a vet. She’s been in this (sport) longer than about anyone fighting tonight. She really brought it tonight. … The best I’ve ever seen her.”

Tate (13-3 MMA, 6-2 SF), who’s made no secret of her desire for a Rousey rematch, improves to 7-1 over her past eight fights while Kedzie (16-11 MMA, 0-2 SF), who suffered a decision loss to Alexis Davis 13 months ago, drops her second straight.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?